Prevalence of Bots.
Previous studies have identified the widespread presence of automated accounts or “bots” on social media. A 2014 filing from Twitter acknowledged that 8.5 percent of its active monthly users were automated accountshttps://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1418091/000156459014003474/ twtr-10q_20140630.htm?_ga=1.155500795.1900968760.1407851022 and subsequent studies found this to be a low estimate of the actual prevalence of bot accounts[1]}, [2]}.
Recent work has found that accounts spreading disinformation are significantly more likely to be automated accounts [3]}. Other studies highlight evidence of bot participation in political discussion [4]}, [5]}, [6]} and astroturf campaigns that present the appearance of widespread support of a candidate, opinion, or topic artificially [7]}.
A 2018 Pew Research center study found that the majority (66%) of links tweeted to popular news sites are posted by accounts that are likely to be bots, i.e., whose behavior is more similar to bot accounts than to humans [8]}. We seek to answer whether similar trends hold among reactions to news sources.
